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The greatest tragedy isn’t that someone never received a gift—it’s that they received one and never opened it.

Imagine someone carefully choosing a gift for you. Wrapping it. Handing it to you personally. It has value, purpose, and potential. But instead of opening it, you leave it sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

That’s how many believers live with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible teaches that every believer has been given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, yet so many Christians live unaware of what God has placed inside of them. The gift exists. The potential is there. But unopened gifts never impact anyone.

“A gift only makes a difference when it’s opened and used.”

From the very beginning, God’s desire has always been to dwell among His people. In the Garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve. Throughout Scripture, God’s people were marked by His presence—Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, and ultimately the New Testament church. What set them apart wasn’t talent, personality, or influence. It was the Spirit of God dwelling within them.

And that same Spirit still works today.

The church was never meant to be merely informational—it was meant to be supernatural. We serve a supernatural God, so it should not surprise us when He moves in supernatural ways. In the New Testament, miracles, healings, prophecy, wisdom, and spiritual manifestations weren’t treated as rare interruptions. They were part of normal church life.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12 that there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit empowers them all. These gifts are given “so we can help each other.” Spiritual gifts are not trophies to show off spirituality; they are tools to serve people.

That’s important because there’s often confusion around the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are not natural talents or learned skills. They are supernatural empowerments given by the Holy Spirit for specific moments and purposes. A word of wisdom, healing, prophecy, faith, discernment—these are not abilities we own permanently as much as they are ways the Holy Spirit chooses to work through available people.

And that’s the key: availability.

Too many people assume spiritual gifts are reserved for pastors, extroverts, or “super spiritual” Christians. But Paul says spiritual gifts are given to “each of us.” If you belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirit lives within you, you are a candidate for the gifts of the Spirit.

There are no second-class Christians in the Kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit delights in working through ordinary people who simply say yes. He can use the quiet person to encourage someone prophetically. He can give wisdom to a teenager, healing through a new believer, or bold faith to someone who feels completely inadequate.

God isn’t looking for perfection. He’s looking for surrender.

But there’s one thing that must always accompany the gifts: love.

In 1 Corinthians 13, right in the middle of Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts, he makes a striking statement: if we operate in gifts without love, we are just noise. In Corinth, that imagery would have been powerful because the city was known for prostitution, and the sound of clanging bells in the streets symbolized people selling themselves for selfish gain.

Paul’s warning was clear: using spiritual gifts without love turns something sacred into performance.

The gifts were never meant to draw attention to us. They were meant to reveal Jesus.

The goal of the gifts is to glorify God, strengthen the church, and expand the Kingdom. They are expressions of God’s heart flowing through His people to a hurting world.

So maybe the question today is simple: what gift has God placed in your life that still remains unopened?

Maybe He’s been prompting you to pray boldly, encourage someone, step out in faith, serve faithfully, or trust Him in ways that stretch your comfort zone. The Holy Spirit still speaks. He still empowers. He still moves through ordinary believers.

You weren’t just saved from something—you were empowered for something.

The presence of God still marks His people. And there is still evidence when His Spirit is at work.